Talk of a turbulent art market in the West has been met with signs of growth in Asia. That all made Frieze Seoul, whose opening was held this week, an important event for market observers, as it allowed them to take the temperature of the market in Asia.
One thing was clear: many dealers here seemed willing to take risks. While quite a few booths were lined with paintings, as is common at art fairs, a number also contained sculptures, installations, and videos—mediums that are not always guaranteed to sell as well. Still, it’s also worth noting that few works sold for more than $500,000 and that many galleries said they sold pieces without disclosing their prices.
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Dealers from the mega-galleries generally seemed optimistic during Wednesday’s opening. A representative from Pace, for instance, told ARTnews that the gallery had seen good sales. While there are certainly still art market woes abroad, there was no reason be upset in Seoul, where sales were “going strong,” the rep said.
At its Seoul gallery, Pace had just opened a two-person show for the Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko and Lee Ufan, a Korean painter associated with the Mono-ha movement. There were no Rothko paintings at Frieze, but the gallery did have a 1988 painting by Lee that sold on Day 2 for $1.2 million. (That sale, like most others listed here, is self-reported.) The day before, Pace sold a small bronze LOVE sculpture by Robert Indiana for $550,000, as well as pieces by Yoshitomo Nara, Robert Nava, Kenjiro Okazaki (a new addition to the gallery’s roster), Kylie Manning, Mika Tajima, and Torkwase Dyson.
Lee Ufan: With Winds, 1988.
Studio Flint/© Lee Ufan, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Hauser & Wirth executive director James Koch echoed Pace’s optimism, telling ARTnews, “We are very happy so far.” He said this year’s edition “exceeded what happened in the last year, and the energy is amazing.” Koch also noted a more established international audience, as well as a strong Korean presence on opening day.
One of the fair’s highest-priced works sold at that gallery’s booth: a 2021 painting by Nicolas Party, titled Portrait with Curtains, that went for $2.5 million to an Asia-based private collection. Other works sold by the gallery included a 2024 Avery Singer painting (for $575,000), a 2023 Henry Taylor painting ($450,000), a mixed-media work by Angel Otero ($285,000), and a 2024 Ambera Wellmann painting ($40,000), as well as a 2024 Rita Ackermann painting and a sculpture and work on paper by Louise Bourgeois, both for undisclosed prices.
The other two gallery giants, David Zwirner and Gagosian, were also on hand for Frieze Seoul, but they were shyer about sharing their sales figures. Neither gallery even reported which artists’ work they had sold. Rather than getting into specifics, the former gallery issued a standard-fare quote from senior partner Christopher D’Amelio, who blandly spoke of Seoul as being “undeniably one of the Asian cities deserving of an international art fair of this caliber.”
One of the highest-priced works at the fair altogether came not from a mega-gallery but from PKM, a veteran Seoul space that sold a $1.5 million painting by Yoo Youngkuk, an artist widely considered one of the pioneering abstractionists in the country. That made the piece one of the very few seven-figure works sold anywhere at this edition of Frieze Seoul.
At least two galleries brought work by Lee Bul, who will unveil her facade commission for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York next week. One of her dealers, Lehmann Maupin, which maintains a location in the Korean capital, sold two works by the artist from her “Perdu” series, one for $210,000, the other for $190,000. The gallery also sold works by other Korean artists it represents, like Do Ho Suh (four drawings) and Kim Yun Shin (five paintings and a sculpture), but it did not disclose prices. Works by Arcmanoro Niles and Chantal Joffe sold at lower values.
In a statement, gallery cofounder Rachel Lehmann said, “The energy at Frieze Seoul this year has been exceptional. Koreans came in full force and we’ve had success placing works by our Korean artists, particularly with collectors from East and South East Asia, including a number of first time buyers from the region.”
Lee Bul: Perdu CXC, 2023.
Jeon Byung-cheol
Dealer Thaddaeus Ropac, meanwhile, had a recent painting by Lee, Perdu CXIII (2021), which sold to a Korean collector for $190,000. The gallery also sold a 2023 Georg Baselitz painting for €1 million ($1.1 million), two abstractions by Martha Jungwirth for €300,000 ($332,261), a Lee Kang-So for ₩250,000,000 ($180,000), and a David Salle painting for $50,000.
Ropac, who also operates a Seoul space in addition to three in Europe, said in a statement that he wasn’t worried about how the fair would go by its conclusion and that Day 1 sales, while slower than last year, weren’t necessarily indicative of the fair’s market draw. He added, “It’s still early in the fair and it’s too early to come to any conclusions.”
One of the week’s most exhibitions in Seoul is by Anicka Yi, whose Leeum Museum of Art show just opened. Gladstone Gallery, which has a presence in the city, sold several of Yi’s mechanized, octopus-like sculptures for $200,000 each. The gallery also sold multiple paintings by Ugo Rondinone in the range of $70,000 to $170,000, drawings by Keith Haring for $125,000 each, and two paintings by Salvo, one for $375,000, the other for $150,000.
A survey of other blue-chip galleries’ reports suggests a steady crop of sales. White Cube sold a steel Antony Gormley sculpture for £550,000 ($724,000), while Lisson placed a Hiroshi Sugimoto work for $406,800 and a Kelly Akashi sculpture for $55,000. Perrotin sold a Takashi Murakami painting for $600,000, and Kukje sold a Haegue Yang artwork sold for within the range of €41,000–€49,200 ($45,400–$54,500) and a Sungsic Moon canvas for within the range of ₩54,000,000–64,800,000 ($40,400–$48,500).
Mazzoleni sold Agostino Bonalumi’s Blu (2007) in the region of $100,000. San Francisco–based Jessica Silverman gallery sold out its booth consisting of 10 paintings by Hayal Pozanti, a participant in this year’s soon-to-open Gwangju Biennale.The largest two sold for $65,000 each. The gallery’s namesake founder called the fair a “triumph.”
For those here in Seoul, there are certainly no shortage of events this week, between Frieze, Kiaf, the Gwangju Biennale, and countless museum and gallery openings. However, the expanding scope of the fair, happening concurrently with New York’s Armory Show, has left many feeling the squeeze.
Teó Cohen, director of Mexico City’s Proyectos Monclova gallery, said he had to make a choice between the Seoul and New York fairs. Ultimately, his gallery opted to do both, but Cohen could only be at one, and he decided to make it to Seoul. With the Asian market continuing to rapidly expand, he said, he felt it was more critical to be in Seoul.
